Rotten

We’ve done a lot, a whopping lot, of do-it-yourself remodeling in our 44 years of marriage.  My husband is not easily daunted when it comes to tearing out stuff – walls, doors, windows, plumbing, wiring, you name it. Our makeovers have been time-consuming and challenging, but (eventually) worth it.    

“Our family always does things the hard way,” our youngest daughter said when she was a teenager.  Not as a complaint, just as fact. I call it pure wisdom. 

Well, today’s headline is that the old dog’s been at it again, sniffing around, digging up new dirt and uncovering old bones.  The handyman-dog, that is.  The do-it-yourself husband, the one who singlehandedly repairs and remodels everything.

That one. The lone wolf gone constructor.

Yesterday when he was scraping paint from around the outside of our picture window overlooking the lake, he discovered soft wood, and behind it, rot.  To. The. Core.  After digging deep into splintery wood, he proclaimed the window frame too spongy to repair: “A goner! The whole thing needs to come out!”  

To temporarily seal the gaping hole at the base of the frame (a supportive spot that now had no ability to bear weight), he filled it with spray foam that dries firm, like rock-hard whipped cream gone very, very nasty.  

There are flip sides to his discovery.  Of course it’s good he caught the vigilant rot monster before it chewed clear through the frame.  Now we can prevent disaster when one of those rogue winds sweeps across the lake, threatening to blow glass into the house. So in that respect, I’m grateful for his thorough probing and diagnosis.  Also, a friendly neighbor happens to have a good-quality window in his barn that will fit perfectly, and he’s offered it to us – free!  This is an amazing provision, and I am thankful.

However, the other side…well, I’m thinking about the labor involved.  The stress.  The construction mess.  The inevitable injury to interior walls and trim, and their recovery. I know these realities quite well, having lived them repeatedly.              

I would honestly love to hire the work done, just this time (please please), but that doesn’t seem to fit with the old dog’s plan. No new tricks.  Which is okay, I just need to acclimate and get ready.

Here we go again.